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Working the Second Shift in Corporate America...
For many men and women today, the work day doesn't end when they leave
their offices at five or six or seven o'clock. They go home to their
"second shift" where they put in the many hours of extra work created
by the demands of home and family.
Now that the number of U.S. families in which the mother is not
employed outside the home is less than 7 percent, there's more and more
work to be done every day - both in the workplace and at home. Across
the country, working people are searching for ways to balance career
paths and goals with family life. And employers, worried about losing
top talent and anxious to attract the best possible candidates to their
companies, are looking for workable solutions. In many of these
companies, it is HR managers who must deal with this situation.
What Can HR Managers Do?
When work-family conflict occurs, it is inevitably accompanied by
stress and poor performance. But it also provides an opportunity for
the employer to gain an advantage by helping their people solve the
problem. Whatever the cause of work-family conflict, business suffers
the consequences of lost performance; and good work-family
relationships mean improved work performance.
To get that improved performance, companies have to make as much of an
effort to create a supportive family workplace as they do to provide
training or benefits. Surveys conducted within companies already
indicate that their efforts are often cost-effective and result in
productivity gains.
Studies also indicate that the needs are great. Many parents have
difficulty in finding childcare that conforms to their work hours, and
the problem is compounded when they have a sick child. They'd like to
be able to go to teacher meetings and attend school activities, and
coping with an unexpected school closing is enough to send them into a
panic. These parents need policies that do things like extend sick time
to cover children's illnesses and offer flexible hours so they can
occasionally be present at events that occur during the school day. And
when companies provide these desperately needed benefits, they foster
loyalty that is invaluable in today's tight labor market.
What are some specific actions that HR managers can help companies take to improve the work-family balance of their employees?
- First, communicate clearly about current work-family practices and policies that already exist.
- Make managers and supervisors more sensitive to work-family
issues. Make sure they understand company policies relating to these
issues.
- Incorporate work-family topics into training.
- Give employees the time they need for family responsibilities by
using schedule innovations —part-time work, flexible work arrangements,
telecommuting.
- Reexamine your organization's career planning process in light of work-family responsibilities.
- Exercise leadership in the community to improve the availability
of quality childcare. Some companies have even been instrumental in
helping to create near-site childcare centers and in providing seed
money for after-school and summer programs.
- Solicit the participation of other businesses, government agencies and community organizations to address childcare programs.
Making it work
There are few who would disagree that implementing the above items can
take a lot of pressure off employees who are struggling with
work-family conflicts. But how do they impact the organization? Where
flex-time, for example, can be a viable option in a large corporation,
it may pose problems for a small business without the resources to
cover an employee absence during work hours.
Flexible solutions have to work for both the company and the employees,
and the individuals involved have to take on their share of the
responsibility for success. Perhaps each department prepares calendars
and schedules to make sure that all the work is covered. It's not so
much a matter of management directing them as it is a matter of working
it out for the good of all concerned; they do the negotiation with each
other. If somebody needs to be out for a family-related reason, they
have to figure it out with the team. And if it isn't workable, it won't
be because the boss said no, but because the peers said no.
The same formula for keeping work-family issues in balance won't work
for every company; they have to be tailored to fit individual companies
and businesses. One of the reasons that some of these issues have not
been resolved yet is that no one has figured out how to make it work
fairly and how to handle expectations. Involving employees in a task
force to determine policies may help to solve these problems neutrally.
It becomes their mission to figure out how to make it work.
In today's flourishing economy with its increasing worker shortages,
Americans seem to be working longer hours than ever. Yet one of their
greatest concerns is the lack of time for their personal lives and
their families. Finding the solutions that will relieve the pressures
of this dilemma is one the greatest challenges that HR managers
currently face. And the companies that creatively devise those
solutions will have the greatest advantage in finding and retaining the
talent they need to thrive and grow in the years ahead.
Looking for staffing solutions for your company? Sales Consultants of Brookfield can help.